The Younger Trio
by Jynxpixie
Summary: Bunch of oneshots for younger Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Updates whenever! Enjoy, reviews appreciated very much but not required! So far, no pairings.
1. First Day, First Grade

Danny was a little nervous. Not a LOT, though. It was his first day of first grade. He knew how the school worked. He wasn't afraid his mommy would leave and never come back for him. Oh, no. It was something much different.

"Tucker's going to a different school this year," his mommy had told him. "But you can play with your other friends, and you can ask Tucker to come to your house after school, sweetie, okay?"

But that's what Danny was worried about. He didn't HAVE any other friends. He'd always been with Tucker.

Okay, forget what I said earlier. He was REALLY nervous.

Danny walked inside his classroom. He was one of the first there. He recognized a boy that had been in another class the year before, with blonde hair. He was playing with trucks, and didn't notice Danny. But the only other child did. She stared at Danny, not glaring, but not smiling either. Almost like she was bored.

Danny stared back, curiously. She was new. He liked her hair; in fact, he thought it was really pretty. It was black and shiny, and it fell just below her shoulders. It wasn't held up in any way. She was pale, with a black dress covered in pink polka dots, and a pink sash around her waist. From looking at her, you would guess she was a life-size doll.

But what Danny found himself looking at was her eyes. He struggled a little to recall the colors the year before, and he remembered. The girl's eyes were purple.

Danny's interest was piqued. Who was this girl?

It was then he saw the Play-Doh, and he ran to it, forgetting about the girl (for the moment). Another boy named Mikey, who had been there the year before, was already there. He'd walked in during Danny and the doll- like girl's silent exchange.

Danny's new teacher was Mr. Paperman. At first he had scared most of the kids (except, Danny of course. Jack Fenton was bigger than this guy) – Mr. Paperman was REALLY tall, but then he showed them how nice he was.

Mr. Paperman told everyone to sit in a circle. When they did – and had remembered the difference between a circle and a square – he told them that when he said their name, they were going to stand up and say three good things about themselves.

The first kid was the blonde boy that had been playing with the trucks. Danny noticed that he was a little bigger than the rest of them. "I'm Dash Baxter," he said, grinning widely. "I'm 7 years old."

A group of "Oooo"'s went around the room and Danny felt his gaze drawn toward the new girl again. Her face was expressionless.

"My favorite part of school is recess," Dash continued, "and my favorite color is red." He sat down.

Danny piped up, remembering something he'd learned last year. "Isn't red the color of blood?" he asked. "Hey, I have red on my shirt! Look!" he said excitedly, pointing to his sleeve.

Mr. Paperman smiled at him. "Very good." Danny looked at Dash, and was startled to see him glaring at Danny, who quickly looked away. What did he do?

Next was Mikey Cappa. Apparently, he was allergic to milk and peanuts, wanted to take pictures when he grew up, and was in love with Reese Witherspoon, a famous person Danny had never heard of. Last time Danny had checked, Reese's had chocolate and peanut butter in it. But wasn't Mikey allergic to peanuts? Confused, Danny started to raise his hand.

Which was when Mr. Paperman read "Daniel Fenton" off his sheet, so he put his hand down and stood up instead, forgetting about Mikey's mistake. He smiled shakily.

"My name's Danny," he told Mr. Paperman, who smiled and wrote something on his paper.

Danny looked at the girl again, and saw that she wasn't even looking at him. She glared at Dash, but when Danny turned to look at him, he grinned toothily at Danny. The girl shook her head, as if in disbelief. Danny thought of what he decided he'd say while he had waited for his turn. "Um…My favorite…erm, colors are blue and black," Danny told his classmates. Black hadn't been one of his favorite colors until he'd met the girl, but it was now. Gaining confidence, he announced proudly, "I have an older sister named Jaz, and she's in the third grade." His class was hanging on his every word – except the girl. "And," Danny continued, "_My parents are ghost hunters._" He grinned at everyone's open-mouthed reaction. Even Mr. Paperman raised his eyebrows. He shouldn't have problems making friends NOW…except for Dash, who was glaring at Danny again.

And the girl still hadn't shown another sign of emotion. If Danny hadn't seen her mad earlier, he would've guessed she never showed any feeling at all. He wondered if anyone had managed to impress her.

Wait, "impress"? What does that word even mean?

Next was a boy named Michael. Danny thought his nose looked a little….oh, he didn't know. _Different_, definitely. Then Angelina. She said she wanted to adopt kids when she got older, 'because her parents told her about the homeless little boys and girls in Africa. After that came a girl named Alicia, and a skinny blonde girl named Keira. Next came Jennifer, who had brown hair pulled into ponytails on either side of her head.

"Samantha Manson," read Mr. Paperman.

Everyone looked around. No one had stood up.

"Samantha?"

_The girl_ got to her feet slowly. "My name is Sam," she said quietly. Although her voice wasn't very loud at all, the room was completely silent, so everyone heard her.

Mr. Paperman looked slightly surprised. "Sam is a boy's name."

Sam smiled. No, it wasn't a smile – a _smirk_ is what it was. "Then teaching is a woman's job."

Their teacher's laugh was sop uproarious a few kids actually jumped.

As Mr. Paperman finished chuckling, Sam gave a real smile.

"Sam it is," Mr. Paperman agreed, writing once again on his sheet.

After introducing a few more kids, everyone had gone to recess. Danny went to play on the swings. Back and forth. _Bend your knees when you go back,_ he reminded himself. Having an older sister definitely had its benefits.

Sometime during the short period he'd been swinging, Sam had appeared next to him a couple of feet away. When he noticed she was there, Danny stopped.

"Hi!" he exclaimed brightly.

Sam blinked slowly.

Danny wouldn't give up. He'd get past this indifferent mask one way or another. "Do you wanna swing with me?"

Her delicate eyebrows raised, Sam gave a hesitant shrug and sat in the swing next to his, but made no other movement. She watched him.

_She doesn't know how to swing!_ he realized. But he knew that if he asked her if she needed help, she'd leave.

Danny didn't want that.

So he began swinging, _showing_ her how to do it, exaggerating the leg movement. Sure enough, Sam caught the pattern, and soon their movements were in synch with each other. She grinned at him, and he grinned back.

Just like that, they were friends.

* * *

Just a little thing on how Danny and Sam meet.  
In my opinion, Sam would have to have spent a lot of time with Tucker and Danny to learn that it's okay to feel something other than uber happy, as her parents no doubt will have taught her. So, in the first grade, she's a bit shy. I'll probably have other little drabbles like this [which is why it's not on "complete", with Danny and Tucker and Sam [Tucker will be in other ones young, and no ghosts. [Danny Phantom was the first ghost Jack and Maddie saw, remember?  
So yeah. Character development and so forth, when I get REALLY blocked up. Updates whenever. xP Enjoy!  
Also, see if you can catch a pattern with the other kids names, besides Mikey, Dash, and Mr. Paperman, who was a favorite teacher of mine.


	2. A Second Friend In The Summer

Warning! Long author's note. (Story's much longer.) Just skip to the DFSMTF line break if you don't like these.

Okay, as for why this took so long (over a year, holy crap) – I got I good way into it, got stumped, and pretty much ignored it for a…uh…long time. Then I saw it when I was looking for a document and lo and behold, got sucked in again.

Anyway. I really can't write little kids. I have this image of Danny, Tucker, and Sam stuck in my head, at how they would react to certain things. My writings posted so far have no evidence of that. Also, I have trouble writing them before they were at the development stage they were at in the show. I see Danny as a little cynical, quick to judge (although just as quick to set things straight), and huge on second chances. Most of the time. Tucker's a big goof that loves giving his friends a hard time, but is loyal to the end. And Sam is always bringing the both of them to their senses, although that doesn't exempt her from having fun with them. She's just as loyal as Tucker.

The reason I am writing these oneshots is to give the view I have as to how these traits (as well as relationships, and not just these three) developed. And I find that really difficult to do because I find myself already giving them these traits, in the faces I describe, the actions depicted and the worries expressed. Not to mention the dialogue! Man, I really can't write that in here XD Why do you think the teacher did most of the talking last chapter? However, I hope I've done you good anyway, especially with such a long wait. For which I apologize. I'll try not to do it again, but I don't guarantee anything. At all.

On the other hand, I didn't look forward to this piece, didn't like the idea I came up with it, and I'm still not satisfied. However, I have plenty of other ideas that I am extremely looking forward to. They'll be listed at a later date (maybe even on my profile, but it's rather long as it is…). However, I've made you wait long enough, so, on with the show!

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Sam bit her lip, standing outside the Fenton's door. She looked at the street behind her, the huge sign above their household, anything but the doorbell she knew she had to ring. It wasn't long until she realized she couldn't very well stand out here forever. And she _did_ want to see her friend, Danny. Reluctantly, she knocked on the door, pasting what she hoped was an innocent expression on her face. Her mother had scolded Sam for giving her Looks.

Sam, a 6 year old girl, had slow growing black hair that fell just past her shoulders. She didn't like it long, and thought that maybe she might prefer it short, but Pamela (her mother) fawned over it. So Sam had decided she wouldn't ask to have it cut. She didn't need the grief, although she wished she had someone to complain to….and she did, now. Sam had gotten over the initial shyness she felt most of the time in the first grade (last year) when she'd found a friend in Danny Fenton, a cheerful, raven-haired, blue-eyed boy who had been in her class.

Sam, clad in a black shirt and a pink skort, blinked and knocked again. Being the summer between the first and second grade, she was just barely tall enough to look through the window next to the door. Standing on tiptoe, she glimpsed movement and frowned, annoyed that no one was answering the door like she didn't deserve to be let in or something. Sam's irritation grew. She got enough of playing the perfect, emotionless…_Barbie_ for her parents at her home. No, not a home; the place she lived. The Fentons' place is where she felt she could safely laugh and cry and be something other than a delicate doll.

And now someone at this very place thought they could just _ignore_ her knocking? Oh, no. Nuh-uh.

This time not caring what kind of expression was on her face, she pounded on the door, and it flung open.

Expecting to see cheery Jack, concerned Maddie, happy Danny, or even an agitated Jazz, she was surprised to find an African American boy staring at her. Not in a friendly way, either. She looked him up and down. He wore black glasses, and the majority of his dark hair was covered by an Angels baseball cap worn backwards. He was also wearing a yellow tank top, with long, navy blue shorts and sandals. Not to mention, truth be told, he was wearing a _watch_. He was her height, which suggested they were the same age, and looked her straight in the eye. You had to wonder, though; what self-respecting second grader wore a _watch_?

As he glared at her, she returned the Look. "Is Danny here?" Sam asked in a tone she had learned from her grandma, during her brief visits to the Manson household.

"Yo, wha's a _girl_ doin' askin' for Danneh?" he inquired. From the way he said the word "girl" you could tell he could very well live without females (except his mommy, of course). Sam opened her mouth to snap back a retort but before a sound came out, he'd stepped back and yelled, "Danny, man, some chick's at the door askin' for ya!"

Sam heard an exasperated Jazz yell back from the kitchen. "Would you stop talking like that? It's really annoying!"

"But, babe, it's my shtick!" he protested. Sam guessed he didn't normally talk like this.

Jazz didn't pay any attention to him; she'd noticed Sam. "Well, let her in, for Pete's sake!"

With another malevolent glance at Sam, he said, "Yo, Jazz, you've heard of cooties, right?"

At that Sam giggled. He actually thought cooties were real. **(AN; They are real, actually. Cooties exist. They're a type of body lice.)** She shoved her way past him, content she was still welcome here, even if this boy didn't like her. Sam didn't care as long as she knew Danny still liked her, and she knew he did. Danny was as loyal as they come.

Speak of the devil; there he was, grinning at both the boy and Sam. "Awesome! Sam, this is Tucker. Tucker, this is Sam."

Sam was surprised. _This_ was the guy Danny was friends with? The boy that Danny had told her so much about?

She eyed Tucker with renewed disgust. This was the person who shoved 22 hotdogs down his throat, just to beat Tapeworm's (from some Disney TV show?) record?

Tucker mirrored her expression. "This is your girlfriend?"

Sam could tell by the stupid grin on Tucker's face that Danny had told him no such thing. She grabbed the brim of his cap, turned it to the front, and dragged it down so it covered half his face.

"That hat messes up your rapper outfit," she stated simply.

Tucker responded by pulling some of her hair.

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Things didn't improve between Sam and Tucker as the summer continued. She didn't invite Danny over to her house, thinking he would bring Tucker over. One week passed, then two. Danny had long ago gotten sick of his friends not getting along. He went to Jazz to see if she could help; she loved this sort of thing. He explained what was wrong.

She frowned when he had finished. "You know, it kind of reminds me of this book I was reading a few months ago." She tapped her chin, trying to figure out how to explain it to her little brother. Her whole face lit up as it struck her.

"Okay. So, there are these three kids, Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Hermione was bossy. Harry and Ron were best friends, and Ron didn't like Hermione. Harry thought she could be a little less bossy, but other than that, he liked her okay. " She paused, and changed the next fact around a little to fit Danny's predicament. "Hermione didn't like Ron either, because he broke the rules."

Danny was confused. "What does this mean?"

Jazz smiled down at Danny. "Harry is you, Hermione is Sam, and Ron is Tucker."

Danny frowned. "Sam isn't bossy." **(AN; Haha, Danny, not yet, not yet.)**

She rolled her eyes at the fact he was taking this so literally. "Of course, you're right. But Tucker still doesn't like Sam, right? And Sam doesn't like Tucker…."

Danny thought about this. "Okay."

"Right. At the end of the book, all three of them were best friends, even though Hermione and Ron argued sometimes."

Danny smiled up at his sister. So it was possible that his friends could be friends with each other. "That's great, Jazz! How did they become friends?" he asked eagerly.

Jazz was stumped. She needed to think these things through. "Um. Ron and Harry saved Hermione from a mountain troll in the girls' bathroom."

Danny's face fell. Then it brightened up again. "Do you know where I can find a mountain troll?"

Jazz bit her lip. Then she had an idea. She explained it to Danny. Danny hesitated, while Jazz explained no one would get hurt. He agreed.

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Danny had invited Tucker and Sam over; Sam would come after Tucker had left, though.

After about ten minutes of playing around with Legos, Jazz called them over. "Tucker! Daaaaaaaaaaaanny!" When she had them in sight, she suggested eagerly, "Let's play hide and seek!"

"Not it," said Danny automatically.

"Not it," Tucker repeated.

Jazz frowned, but shrugged. "Okay. I'm counting to 20!" She went over to a corner of the room, covered her eyes, and started counting.

Danny motioned to Tucker to follow him, and Tucker obliged. The two ended up in a roomy closet. As Danny closed the door, they heard a click. Alarmed, Tucker grasped at the knob. It didn't turn. Distantly, they heard Jazz call, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Tucker panicked. "JA-" he started to yell, but Danny shook his head.

"Tuck, she'll never find us in here if it's _locked_," Danny pointed out, repeating what Jazz had told him to stay the night before. "I think we'll be okay." The comment sounded staged to Danny's own ears, but Tucker appeared too scared in order to notice.

Danny sat down, and his back rubbed against something rough. He turned around to find a backpack, unzipped. He brought it around to his lap, struggling, and looked inside. He smiled as he saw the supplies his sister had given him and Tucker to keep them occupied while Sam took her time getting here. Danny blinked. His eyes had adjusted to the dark area of the closet, but the enclosed space was starting to make him panic. He started rummaging around the backpack again, and, to his relief, found a flashlight. He fished it out and gave it to Tucker, who had started shaking. Without hesitating, he turned it on. With light and the ability to see the other's face, they both calmed down.

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Sam found herself yet again in front of the Fenton's house, and smiled at herself. She rang the doorbell. This time, it was Jazz who opened the door. She had a big smile on her face as she greeted Sam and let her in.

"Hey, Sammy – Sam, sorry," she amended, catching herself. Sam had told them all quite early that they weren't to call her Sammy, or Samantha.

Ever.

The thought was mirrored slightly in Sam's expression, but Jazz ploughed on nonetheless. "We're playing hide and seek, and I can't seem to find Tucker and Danny _anywhere_. I was hoping you could help me?" All was said hopefully, and the older girl threw a pout into the mix.

Sam didn't swallow what Jazz was trying to feed her. She folded her arms. "Jazz, you're the one who showed Danny all the hiding spots. Can you find him so we can play?"

"Well, I – "

"Thanks. Can I go have a cheese stick?" Without waiting for an answer (not that she was trying to be rude, but let's face it – the answer was always yes), the girl turned around and headed toward the kitchen.

"Wait!" Jazz skidded in front of her. "Okay, the truth is that I really need to finish a book report for extra credit." The redhead glanced around, and picked up a book she had just recently finished. She held it in front of Sam.

Having no other choice, the other girl looked at the cover and tried to read it out loud. "The Tale of – Des…Desper…ayxe?"

"Desperaux," corrected Jazz, pronouncing it des-per-oh. She hugged it, and sent Sam a pleading glance. "Please?"

Sam grimaced, but finally relented. "Okay. But I'm getting a cheese stick first."

A few minutes later, Sam was plodding up the steps, cheese stick in hand, gently stripping it and popping a strand into her mouth. She looked around, and walked the length of the hall a few times. She heard nothing, and was about to walk into Danny's room when she heard a loud wail quickly followed by an even louder "SHOOSSSSSHH!"

Cocking an eyebrow, the girl came to stand in front of the offending door and tried to open it with her left hand. It wouldn't budge. Realizing that this might be because her stronger right hand was holding her cheese stick, she switched and tried it again. She got the same result. Putting her ear against the door, Sam listened for proof of what she heard earlier. Whimpering was heard.

Stuffing what was left of her snack in her mouth (a couple inches – she gagged on it, unable to chew. She noted to never eat one of these straight ever again), she fetched the closet key from under the vase in the hallway. Danny had proudly shown her this discovery a few months ago, having found it all by himself. She jammed the key into the door knob, turning it this way, and that, until she was finally able to pull open the door and greet the boys inside.

Before she could say anything, they jumped on their savior.

"Sam!"

"_Sam!_"

"You found us!"

"We've been in there for hours!"

"We were playing hide-and-seek –"

"Jazz couldn't find us, even when we called –"

"And got locked in the closet! We ran out of food real quick –"

"It was like she was deaf or something –"

"And I was really hungry, but Danny said you'd come and get us –"

"But I was okay, 'cause I told Tucker you'd come soon, and he didn't believe me and started _crying_ – uh, Sam, what's wrong?"

She hadn't spoken yet, and when the boys finally looked at her, they realized she couldn't breathe. She rolled to her hands and knees, and tried to cough, but it - that blasted _cheese stick_ - wasn't budging from her throat.

Tucker instantly recognized what was happening and knew exactly what to do. "Hold on, Sam, I'll save you!" Then, before she could make any motion of protest, he thumped on the back multiple times, HARD, until the offending cheese stick regurgitated.

She coughed a few times, but remained on her hands and knees. She stared at the ground. "Thank you, Tucker."

Tucker mumbled his thanks for freeing them from the closet.

Danny watched in fascination. It had worked out perfectly, although he'd been afraid for Sam there. That wasn't supposed to happen. But hey, in the end, it all worked out, which he guessed was what really mattered in this case.

Tucker, at that moment, had discovered something – part of a cheese stick lying on the ground! Hungry as a 6-year-old boy could get after half an hour, he pounced on it, and had it swallowed before Danny or Sam had realized anything.

But when they did –

"Tucker! _Gross!_"

"What? I was really hungry."

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Jazz stepped down so they couldn't see her on the stairs. So they were all friends – _and_ Tucker wasn't talking with that stupid…was it an accent? Well, whatever it was, it was annoying, and Jazz was glad it was gone.

Although she was even gladder Danny had found peace with his two friends. She frowned. Now, if only she could do the same…


End file.
